Bee Foraging Chronically Impaired by Pesticide Exposure

Since bees are insects, it is no surpise that poisons meant to kill insects will harm bees.

Since we share much of our basic biochemistry with them, what are these poisons doing to us?

https://www.uoguelph.ca/cpa/wp/2014/07/bee-foraging-chronically-impaired-by-pesticide-exposure-study/

July 8, 2014

A study co-authored by a University of Guelph scientist that involved fitting bumblebees with tiny radio frequency tags shows long-term exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide hampers bees’ ability to forage for pollen.

The research by Nigel Raine, a professor in Guelph’s School of Environmental Sciences, and Richard Gill of Imperial College London was published today in the British Ecological Society’s journal Functional Ecology.

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“Bees have to learn many things about their environment, including how to collect pollen from flowers,” said Raine, who holds the Rebanks Family Chair in Pollinator Conservation, a Canadian first.

“Exposure to this neonicotinoid pesticide seems to prevent bees from being able to learn these essential skills.”

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Neonicotinoids make up about 30 per cent of the global pesticide market. Plants grown from neonicotinoid-treated seed have the pesticide in all their tissues, including the nectar and pollen.

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The researchers suggest reform of pesticide regulations, including adding bumblebees and solitary bees to risk assessments that currently cover only honeybees.

“Bumblebees may be much more sensitive to pesticide impacts as their colonies contain a few hundred workers at most, compared to tens of thousands in a honeybee colony,” Raine said.